''Sweet and Low-Down'' is a 1944 film directed by

Archie Mayo Archibald L. Mayo (January 29, 1891 – December 4, 1968) was a film director, screenwriter and actor. Early years The son of a tailor, Mayo was born in New York City. After attending the city's public schools, he studied at Columbia Unive ...

and starring Benny Goodman and

Linda Darnell Linda Darnell (born Monetta Eloyse Darnell; October 16, 1923 – April 10, 1965) was an American actress. Darnell progressed from modeling as a child to acting in theater and film. At the encouragement of her mother, she made her first film in ...

. The film was a fictionalized version of life with Goodman, his band, and their manager while entertaining at military camps. The song "

I'm Making Believe "I'm Making Believe" is a 1944 song composed by James V. Monaco with lyrics by Mack Gordon. The song first appeared in the film ''Sweet and Low-Down''; the performance by Benny Goodman and His Orchestra was nominated for the Academy Award for Be ...

" (lyrics by

Mack Gordon Mack Gordon (born Morris Gittler; June 21, 1904 – February 28, 1959) was an American composer and lyricist for the stage and film. He was nominated for the best original song Oscar nine times in 11 years, including five consecutive years betwee ...

; music by James V. Monaco) was nominated for an

Academy Award The Academy Awards, better known as the Oscars, are awards for artistic and technical merit for the American and international film industry. The awards are regarded by many as the most prestigious, significant awards in the entertainment ind ...

Premise

A young trombonist lets his newfound success go to his head when he is invited to join the Benny Goodman Orchestra.

Cast

* Benny Goodman as Himself *

as Trudy Wilson *

Jack Oakie Jack Oakie (born Lewis Delaney Offield; November 12, 1903 – January 23, 1978) was an American actor, starring mostly in films, but also working on stage, radio and television. He portrayed Napaloni in Chaplin's ''The Great Dictator'' (194 ...

as Popsy *

Lynn Bari Lynn Bari (born Marjorie Schuyler Fisher, December 18, 1919 – November 20, 1989) was a film actress who specialized in playing sultry, statuesque man-killers in roughly 150 films for 20th Century Fox, from the early 1930s through the 1940s. ...

as Pat Stirling * James Cardwell as Johnny Birch * Allyn Joslyn as Lester Barnes * John Campbell as Dixie Zang *

Roy Benson Roy Benson (January 17, 1914 – December 6, 1977) was a stage magic (illusion), magician born in Courbevoie in France. He was an accomplished musician. He is credited for Special Effects, having created the monster for the film ''The Flesh E ...

as Skeets McCormick * Dickie Moore as Military Cadet General 'Mogie' Carmichael

Notes

Lynn Bari seems to have been typecast by Fox as a big band singer, playing the role in '' Sun Valley Serenade'' (1941) and Archie Mayo's ''

Orchestra Wives ''Orchestra Wives'' is a 1942 American musical film by 20th Century Fox starring Ann Rutherford, George Montgomery, and Glenn Miller. The film was the second (and last) film to feature The Glenn Miller Orchestra, and is notable among the many sw ...

'' (1942). Her voice had been dubbed in those films by Pat Friday, and in this film, she was dubbed by Lorraine Elliot.http://www.tcm.com/tcmdb/title/92062/Sweet-and-Low-Down/articles.html

References

External links

* * * * 1944 films Films directed by Archie Mayo American black-and-white films 1940s English-language films 1944 musical films American musical films 20th Century Fox films 1940s American films {{musical-film-stub